Speculative Fiction—an all-encompassing genre created to describe stories of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and other stories that have an element of “What if...” in them. A story in speculative fiction is one that adds an element of the unreal, or asks, what would become of our society if history took a different direction at some important event? Fiction with a little something extra thrown in.—William D. Richards

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Thursday, April 30, 2015

It’s that time of the month again, time for “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”.

So what is “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”? It’s a round-up
of speculative fiction by indie authors newly published this month,
though some March books I missed the last time around snuck in as well.
The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most
links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future
editions.

Honor Desry hadn’t applied to be the Innkeeper of a sentient Inn with
magical guests, but her sisters and her right-hand fox-man are making
the job a lot sweeter. Unfortunately, the supreme Cat God has
disappeared on Honor’s watch, and Honor’s old life is about to interfere
with her new life in a major way.

The Naked Glassblowers Association has booked a holiday vacation at
the Virtue Inn, and Honor’s old boss and his partner are coming along to
chaperone. Honor needs to find the Cat, keep the strange guests away
from the supernatural guests, and somehow hold family and mind together.

But the Virtue Inn hasn’t revealed all of its secrets and Honor will
need to summon every last piece of her courage and cunning to save the
day With Honor Intact.

IRRADIATED told the story of Jade and Pearl, sisters fighting for their lives in an harsh and twisted wasteland.

DEGENERATED delved into the tunnels–a twisted underground society, at odds with the outside world.

ABERRATED is the epic conclusion.

Humanity is on its last legs. Only outlaws and outcasts remain. They
are mutants, mongrels, and orphans. They are experiments, degenerates,
and visionaries. Every last one is aberrated.
Will they tear each other apart? Or will humanity find a way to survive?

Germany in the near future: When supernatural beings come out of the
closet and reveal themselves as having lived among humanity all along,
the country quickly adjusts to the new reality after some initial
uproar. Romances between humans and supernaturals soon become common,
such as the relationship between Lina, a human single mother, and
Albrecht, a nightmare demon.

But Albrecht’s and Lina’s love is threatened when they leave Berlin
for Lina’s home village in rural North Germany. For it turns out that
the village is suffused with an ancient magic, a warding spell
specifically designed to keep nightmares out.

An earth-like world of high-tech humans faces the reality that their
world is not as safe as they thought it was. Five people are thrown
together to quietly get to the bottom of an unfathomable event that must
stay quiet. If the population of Terath becomes aware of the truth, it
will spark a civil war. That war would pit the majority of the
population against the powerful minority with the ability to harness and
manipulate mana. The resulting cataclysm would decimate the population
and tear apart the foundation of society.

The five people chosen for this must reconsider everything they
thought they knew about mana, even as they learn to trust one another’s
abilities. They must embrace everything they never wanted in order to
prevent the devastation of their world. One of them will be forever
changed. Love will be denied, badassery will be unleashed, and Terath
will never be the same.

New Sun Rising is about a girl who was raised in a utopian
community and leaves home to make her way in a dystopian society. The
year is 2199; the place, the Reunited States

Story 1, “The Town With Four Names,” describes the lakeside village
in which the girl was raised. It has survived against all odds for more
than three hundred years. Cassie Stillwater, a 90-year-old descendent of
the original founder, writes down the town’s history.

Story 2, “Leaving Home,” is about the girl’s decision to seek a life
outside the town gates. She finds a job that horrifies her parents, who
think they raised her too well and protected her too much. They fear she
is not suited for life anywhere BUT their idyllic town.

Fourteen short stories by Jan Edwards, including the BFS award short-listed 'Otterburn', plus a previously unpublished tale. "All adeptly told, often with a sense of locale and time neatly placed within the narratives. Her family history informs and inspires some of her stories. Folklore figures as a focus in more than one story, whether urban myth or historical lore. But ghostly they are and deceptively disturbing." (42,000 words)

Arthur, Prince of Wales and future King of England, must decide if he wants to return to his own time in 2100 A.D.

Like his predecessor, the Legendary King Arthur, the passion of the
young prince is to rebuild ancient Camelot. When he visits the original
site, he encounters a prophetic gentleman who seems to know the future,
or perhaps he speaks of the past.

Later, as Prince Arthur ponders the true identity of the man, a total
solar eclipse occurs and propels him into the Fifth Century. It is only
when the prince finally accepts the eclipse has directed the event,
time begins to slip once more. It is then he discovers there is more to
consider than space-time theories.

The sun has wiped out nearly all technology in the largest coronal
mass ejection in history. In its wake comes the zombie apocalypse. The
dead have risen, and they are hungry.

Yet there are greater threats than the walking dead. The deathless
have returned, slumbering in the same Arks that carried the werewolves
into the present. If they are not stopped they will build a massive
necropolis in the remains of San Francisco, and the entire continent
will pay the price.

Only the few werewolves created before the apocalypse stand between
humanity and annihilation. Yet they are outnumbered and alone. Their
only hope comes from the very enemy that sought to stop their creation,
Mohn Corp.

Resource rich planet Alpha Three becomes the focus of a galactic wide
conflict. In the midst of a remorseless Scourge invasion a lone human
battleframe pilot, call-sign Whizzbang, strives to find and rescue his
closest friend from the invaders.

With the extermination of the human colony seemingly inevitable,
Whizzbang’s squad of veteran pilots struggle to turn the tide of the
war. Just when he thinks they may have a chance, members of the squad
begin vanishing before his eyes and the odds of winning the battle
become slim to none.

The mysterious nano-robots, unknowingly developed by an alien
intelligence, appear to be all that will enable humanity to survive the
onslaught. But all is not what it seems as the micro-machines begin to
dramatically transform Whizzbang’s friends in astounding ways.

Safe within his command dome, the enemy General plots on how he can
cover the world in the enigmatic Barrier, a force that kills humans in
seconds. It is then that Whizzbang discovers that the Earth may be the
next Scourge target.

Book one in the “Mindwars” opens with our galaxy in turmoil and humanity on the brink of extinction.

Once a hunter of renegade wizards, Silas Vendine is now on the run
from the law himself. He and Lainie are living on what Lainie can win at
cards and whatever odd jobs Silas can get from people who need his
skills and don’t ask too many questions.

When Lainie’s luck with the cards turns sour, they are led to a
meeting with one of the richest ranchers in the Wildings. Brin Coltor
wants Silas and Lainie to undertake a dangerous mission into A’ayimat
territory for him, and they can’t afford to turn him down. But Coltor is
hiding a few secrets of his own, that lead Silas and Lainie right into
the trouble they’ve been trying to avoid.

Armed with Excalibur, Rhi comes to Las Vegas to learn to control both
her ability to see magic as color and her hunger to possess it, but
from the moment she arrives, she’s consumed by the colors of flame. Rhi
has to find her mother—the earth witch Guinevere—before Merlin decides
she’s outlived her usefulness, but an ancient artifact of the earth
magic keeps calling to her with a fire she may not be able to resist,
even at the cost of her life.

(1) Never trust a goblin.
(2) There are no more dragons. There are other monsters.
(3) Don’t piss off the fairies. Seriously.
(4) Almost everything here will want to eat you.

Studying the list in his hand, Dobbins knew he had to escape the
Goblin World. He had a shape- changer to help him, so that was good.
He’d had to join forces with a woman who hated him, so that was bad. For
any chance at survival, his group of three would have to rely on the
fairies. But the fairies can’t stand Dobbins, either.

The scene shifts to Hartshire in the Earth Realm from Nambroc in the
Nether Realm in Crepier, the third novella in the Nambroc Sequence, a
fantasy series.

Crepier, an accountant and black market financier, wants to retire and be financially set for the rest of his life.
To achieve this goal, he convinces Watley Greywall, local crime lord
in Hartshire, to get behind his idea of establishing Hartshire Bank.

Other elements of the Hartshire criminal underworld are of two minds about this possibility.

One segment of the Hartshire criminal underworld wants to get
involved with this opportunity to start a bank because it is a
legitimate commercial enterprise and a way to launder their ill-gotten
gains.

Another segment believes the bank will the draw attention of the
Hartshire Constabulary, which would be more problems than it is worth.

All that matters to Crepier is establishing the Hartshire Bank, and nothing or no one will stop him.

In her home village, Aivee is worse than nobody. If her secret
identity as a half-demon leaks out, she’s dead. But in the capital city
she will reinvent herself as a dancer. She’ll be wealthy, and adored by
thousands. Nobody will be able to hurt her.

Will they?

Nori knows how cruel the city can be. She’s lost her mother to its
plagues, and lately her younger sister has joined the ranks of its
disappeared. But she’s not giving up. The ruling classes think they can
treat people worse than beasts and strip them of their human rights.
Powerful factions want to keep the epidemic of missing people a secret.
Well, they can eat her blades.

Nori joins a group of vigilantes fighting for answers, and voices in
her head urge her to recruit Aivee to the cause. These vigilantes are
bumbling amateurs, as likely to get themselves killed as to save anyone.
But Nori is changing, going mad, lusting for battle and remembering
centuries-old conflicts. She will whip them into shape, or die trying.

Bloodthirsty gangs, inhuman mages, and dragon gods have it in for the people of Kaddon city.
Yes, Nori is mad. But she’s not nearly even.

Grayson Dynamics, led by the illustrious Mick Grayson, is the most
powerful technology firm in the world. But underneath the fame and
fortune exists a dark and dirty history. Corruption. Lies. Betrayal.

Now, a woman with a grudge intends to wipe clean that filthy slate—by
killing the CEO who wronged her years ago and ending the global coup
he’s been planning for years.

And how will she accomplish this? With her newly acquired neural
enhancements, of course. Complete with the power to manipulate the minds
of others.

Peter Cooper, a widowed father of two whose life is crumbling around
him—until a bizarre encounter with a desperate Army general launches him
on a risky mission: to go back to 1942 and change a moment in time. The
repercussions will almost certainly alter the conclusion of World War
II. But will the ripple effects stop there? And what kind of life will
Peter return to?

Unknown Consequences:
A successful mission may not have the success he had intended.

Sarcastic demon-slayer extraordinaire Jordan Amador has been locked
in a year-long struggle to hunt down the thirty silver coins paid to
Judas Iscariot. The mere touch of these coins is enough to kill any
angel.
Jordan’s demonic opposition grows more desperate with each coin
found, so they call on the ultimate reinforcement: Moloch, the Archdemon
of War. Moloch puts out a contract on Jordan as well as her estranged
husband, the Archangel Michael. Now Jordan and Michael will have to find
a way to work together to survive against impossible odds and stop
Moloch’s plan, or else he’ll wage a war that will wipe out the human
race.

Funny, touching, suspenseful—sometimes romantic, titillating and
shocking—there’s something for all adult readers in this unique
illustrated anthology from 23 authors. Arranged from light to meaty
fare, the antrollogy’s “menu” offers up fanciful and farcical stories,
family-oriented tales, romance, mystery, high peak adventure, even
magically surreal literary stories—starring all sorts of trolls, from
the all-too-real Internet variety to the mythical mountain and
bridge-dwelling trolls of legend. Readers will laugh nervously at
Humphrey the half-breed’s unfortunate beginnings, and bite their nails
on behalf of Fergus Underbridge, hard-boiled troll detective. They’ll
cheer a not-so-ordinary troll-fighting girl and want to hug—or slap—a
woman lost in her own neighborhood. And whatever should be done about
the boy with the head of a dragon…?

Time Quirks is a science fiction novella, a tale of alien colonizers
desperately searching for a new home. Long-range sensors and remote
probes have located a distant planet that meets the requirements of
their species. A ship is sent to investigate this new world, but upon
taking up orbit around the planet, the ship’s crew encounters a major
problem. The world is already occupied.

Excerpt:
Jazloo faced the captain in his private study adjacent to the ship’s
briefing room, trying not to lose her temper. “I can’t believe you’re
seriously planning on bringing back live bipeds for dissection.” She’d
waylaid Tusec in the corridor outside his quarters as his sleeping cycle
ended, demanding to speak with him about the upcoming shuttle mission
to the planet below.

Excerpt:
An odd prickling sensation engulfed Eric. “What the—” He stopped in
mid-sentence, scared at what felt like crawling bugs on his flesh. The
frightening sensation raced inward until it imploded at its point of
convergence. His feeling of being compressed into nothingness vanished,
smothering his scream.

With her Djinn lover captured by a band of human survivors intent on
discovering a way to defeat their otherworldly foes, Jessica Monroe must
make a terrible decision — throw in her lot with the humans, forsaking
the one who helped her survive the destruction of civilization, or turn
her back on humanity and follow the urgings of her heart.

In what used to be the suburbs of Chicago, a community lives and
breathes despite the Silents in the wilds beyond. Until the unthinkable
happens – the zombie-like Silents begin to recover their reason. The
stage is set for a conflict between survivors and recovered, and between
old ways and new.

This is book 3 of The Silent Years series, following Mother and Crone.

In the aftermath of a battle a ship drifts helplessly in space. Is
the strange new warship they were fighting still out there? Will it come
back for them? Commander Johnson faces a desperate race to get her
destroyer back into action and save her crew.

“This is an incredible work … suspense, mystery and intrigue.”
“Loved every word of it.”

‘Independence’ is a short story (6000 words) in the Two Democracies universe. The series will continue with the novel ‘Liberty’.

Jason is self-conscious about his metal arm and uncomfortable with
his sexuality. A big, quiet guy who intimidates a lot of people without
even trying to, he works as a cook — and has a hopeless crush on his
friend, Dr. Kingsley. Will Jason ever have a shot with his friend? Or
does life have a different curveball to throw him?

Once, Iola flew with a dragon. She might fly again, but only if she
can become ambassadress to the dragons’ realm. First, though, she must
navigate life as an ordinary priestess, which is not quite what she’d
hoped for. Some of her fellow priestesses dragon-blind and corrupt.
Worse, they see Iola’s devotions as evidence of greed.

Then the ambassadress returns, too sick to fly again. Iola and three
other young priestesses are chosen nurse her, and to have a chance at
taking her place. Iola’s main rival, Tiagasa, was raised in a prince’s
palace. She thrives on political intrigue and gossip, and her lover is
about to become governor of the city.

Iola is just a village girl dazzled by dragons. Her few friends and
allies aren’t much more savvy than she is. Still, they hope to persuade
the new governor – whoever he might be – to make Iola ambassadress, and
to choose faith over scheming, one way or another.

Seventeen-year-old Henry Malone’s mind is no longer his own—along
with the sum total of humanity’s knowledge, another consciousness has
been stuffed into his brain. It plagues him with visions, speaks and
acts through him, and worst of all, it’s killing him. He’s quickly
running out of time, and if he dies, all of humanity’s knowledge goes
with him. His only hope for survival is finding Planetary Link’s top
Neurotechnician, Doctor Carter. But in order to get to her, he must
cross into a world where his actions have plunged society into
chaos—then compel the Doctor to betray her employer before his own mind
destroys him.

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown–especially the crown of the fairy realm…

Sophie Drake has made a promise, and she never breaks her word. She
will free Michael Murray’s long-lost wife from the fairy realm even if
her intensifying feelings for him make it the most painful thing she’s
ever done.

But Sophie is running out of time. Dark fae forces are stirring,
threatening the human world. To make matters worse, humans are being
cast out of the Realm, whether or not they want to leave, and the shock
from these sudden evictions can even prove fatal. It’s only a matter of
time before it happens to Michael’s wife.

All this in the name of the fairy queen.

Stunned, Sophie knows this is impossible because she’s the queen. She won the throne fair and square, through trials and blood.

Now she must find and fight an impostor for a crown she never wanted in order to save both the Realm and the human world.

When Celeste Cannonier takes her best friend’s advice to try online
dating, she finds herself instantly intrigued by Valentine “Bug” Warren,
an antiques dealer with a tumultuous past. It was hardly love at first
sight, but one thing led to another and what should have been a
one-night stand has turned into a life-and-death adventure as Celeste
and Bug uncover the meaning of their dreams — dreams they share, that
are really memories from another dimension.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

About With Honor Intact:

When the Cat's away...

Honor Desry hadn't applied to be
the Innkeeper of a sentient Inn with magical guests, but her sisters and
her right-hand fox-man are making the job a lot sweeter. Unfortunately,
the supreme Cat God has disappeared on Honor's watch, and Honor's old
life is about to interfere with her new life in a major way.

The
Naked Glassblowers Association has booked a holiday vacation at the
Virtue Inn, and Honor's old boss and his partner are coming along to
chaperone. Honor needs to find the Cat, keep the strange guests away
from the supernatural guests, and somehow hold family and mind together.

But
the Virtue Inn hasn't revealed all of its secrets and Honor will need
to summon every last piece of her courage and cunning to save the day With Honor Intact.

To be honest, if the Inn had figured out some way to temporarily
hide Her Godliness, patron deity of cats, Honor really wouldn’t have blamed it.

Honor half-wished it had found a way to disappear the High Priest,
too.

“Are you accusing the Innkeeper of harming her honored Guest?”

While Honor normally appreciated Kay’s help, she wasn’t sure that
sprouting five inch long claws from his fingers was going to soothe the
situation.

Even as she was thinking of the words to take down the tension, she
couldn’t help admiring Kay’s immaculate butler outfit and equally immaculate
long, red hair. Honor had long since resigned herself to the impossibility of
her attraction to him, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t look.

Unfortunately, she had forgotten that someone else was watching her.

The High Priest of Baz sniffed, most of the tension mysteriously
leaving his body. “Your mating rituals are ridiculous. Mount him and be done
with it. I will forgive your lack of attention.”

To Honor’s increasing horror and embarrassment, the High Priest’s
squashed, furry face gave Honor a sympathetic look. “I understand the drive,
but work out your yowling and get back to the most important business.”

About Cat Amesbury:

Cat Amesbury has lived in both the small town and the big city,
but knows that all the best mysteries are hidden where you least expect
them. Her thoughts and stories are drawn from a lifetime of looking
underneath the rocks and inside the trees rather than where she was
actually going.

Cat loves to talk to readers, either about her
stories or about any of the things that she does that inspire her
stories. Please feel free to contact her at her e-mail.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

About Tormented Slumber:

A veteran discovers that demons followed him home from the battlefield
and threaten to destroy his life. The soldier regains hope when he finds
unexpected allies to confront his worst nightmares.

3,000 word short story.

Excerpt:

For my friends who
didn’t make it home.

The nightmares always start the same way. I have a door seat in the
back of a UH-60 with the desert wind scorching my face. We're flying low and
fast, and I catch a glimpse of the lead bird as we cross a ridge line. We're a
minute out from the landing zone. I check my rifle then look at the rest of my
squad. Something is wrong. Their faces are all blurred. My stomach sinks in
anticipation of what I know is about to happen.

We're on short final, and the lead bird catches a rocket propelled
grenade in the belly. Our pilot barely avoids the fireball that used to be a
helicopter when another rocket takes out our tail rotor. We're spinning out of
control and hit the ground hard. The helicopter rolls to the side and the main
rotor blades disintegrate as they dig into the sand. The engines scream as they
overspeed and then shutdown. I'm dangling by my seatbelt. I rotate the release
and fall to the floor. No one else is moving.

I'm choking on dust and smoke, and the sky looks like blood. The
ground rumbles, and through the haze I see a horde of black demons filling the
horizon. They're almost humanoid but have a frenzied gait, using their arms and
legs to run. Their flesh is flowing like molten tar and the foul stench of raw sewage
is overwhelming as they get closer.

I slap a magazine in my rifle and unload on the closest monster. The
beast doesn't even flinch as the bullets pass through him. I throw the rifle
down and get on the door gun. The machine gun sings with expended brass
dropping to the ground, but the horde only picks up speed. The gun falls
silent, and the ammo can is empty. The demons crash into me like a wave. Their
claws pin me down and tear into my flesh. Saliva drips on me from oozing faces
with needle-like teeth. They hesitate for a moment then rip me apart.

---

I woke up in a pool of cold sweat.
At first I thought I was in my hooch in Afghanistan, then realized I was at
home once I heard my wife chewing me out. "Damn it Jimmy, you woke up the
kids again with your screaming."

About Paul Deaver:

As a child I read to seek new adventures. When I got older, I read
to escape the confines of reality. Books can show you unexplored places
and unlock the door to distant worlds. They shape the way we perceive
everything around us.

Please allow me to take you on an
adventure. If my stories provide even a few moments of insight,
amazement, or happiness, then it makes the journey to share them
worthwhile. Thank you for reading my books.

Monday, April 27, 2015

About Priestess of the Dragons' Temple:

Once, Iola flew with a dragon. She might fly again, but only if she can
become ambassadress to the dragons' realm. First, though, she must
navigate life as an ordinary priestess, which is not quite what she'd
hoped for. Some of her fellow priestesses dragon-blind and corrupt.
Worse, they see Iola's devotions as evidence of greed.

Then the ambassadress returns, too sick to fly again. Iola and three
other young priestesses are chosen nurse her, and to have a chance at
taking her place. Iola's main rival, Tiagasa, was raised in a prince's
palace. She thrives on political intrigue and gossip, and her lover is
about to become governor of the city.

Iola is just a village girl dazzled by dragons. Her few friends and
allies aren't much more savvy than she is. Still, they hope to persuade
the new governor – whoever he might be – to make Iola ambassadress, and
to choose faith over scheming, one way or another.

Excerpt:

As she stepped up, she
felt
the weight of Ara’s inheritance descend on her. She was heir to
the
movement between the realms, to transcendence of the earth and
sea,
to seasons and growth, to all that makes the earth whole and
good, to
all that can compel the dragons to bless the places in which
they
dwell. The force of the priestesses’ task and the dragons’
presence was in her, as it was in all of them. She set down her
offering and her surroundings faded away. She drank from the cup
she
found on the shrine just as she had been told to do. Somewhere,
far
away outside, a drum beat. She touched the floor and felt the
earth
spreading out around her in all directions, the paths of its
dragon-lines beneath the surface, the bulk of the mountains, the
inexorable rhythm of the sea.

Someone touched her
shoulder and a fraction of her mind returned to the present. The
two
priestesses made her stand in the middle of the room and
stripped off
her novice robes, turning her in a spiral around the center,
invoking
the dragons who were already there in every fiber. Myril felt
the
dancing-skirt slide onto her naked hips, over her bare legs. She
felt
every stitch and weave, felt the dragons embroidered there like
living things, twining around, reaching into her, pausing only
at her
gates, waiting for the appointed time to hasten on. The scarf
around
her shoulders teased at her neck, shadowed her breasts from the
thin
lamplight. It was loose-woven, fluid, shimmering.

The priestesses led her
back up into the courtyard, back out into the open air. She
didn’t
even see the others when they emerged from their chambers, not
even
Darna and Iola. All she could see was the sky. At some point,
she
sensed their bodies beside hers as if from some unbridgeable
distance. The sky was fiery with sunset, smoky at its fringes
with
burning torches. Their flames flashed against the polished stone
walls shining in the light of the rising moon. The priestesses,
all
but the Most Blessed One herself, processed to the stage to
dance,
Myril's eyes were drawn to the horizon, far out beyond the
harbor,
beyond the temple’s walls. They were all one together, she
thought,
unbound, undifferentiated, whole. A starting rhythm beat up from
the
drums below. For the first time, Myril wondered who held those
instruments. She didn’t know.

That was her last
coherent
thought. The dance began. A sea of faces spread below them,
petitioners great and small, curious country folk and admirers.
Fire
flowed through her, stronger than the torchlight. She spun
through
the rounds, bending low, honoring the crowd and the dragons who
dwelt
within the earth and beyond the edge of the sky. They danced on
the
horizon, unnamed dragons. They swirled among the gold and purple
clouds in a flowing meditation of their own. As Myril stepped
alone
across the stage, she felt their power crash down on her, but
she did
not fall. The other priestesses’ stomp and sway drew her back
into
their ranks, and she relaxed into that backing rhythm as another
and
another crossed the stage before her.

About Amelia Smith:

Amelia Smith takes an
odd-jobs-and-adventures approach to writing. She has written volumes of
unpublishable journals, magazine articles, and a variety of fiction,
most of it with historical and/or fantasy elements.

Saturday, April 25, 2015

About The Holy Dark:

Sarcastic demon-slayer extraordinaire Jordan Amador has been locked in a
year-long struggle to hunt down the thirty silver coins paid to Judas
Iscariot. The mere touch of these coins is enough to kill any angel.

Jordan's demonic opposition grows more desperate with each coin
found, so they call on the ultimate reinforcement: Moloch, the Archdemon
of War. Moloch puts out a contract on Jordan as well as her estranged
husband, the Archangel Michael. Now Jordan and Michael will have to find
a way to work together to survive against impossible odds and stop
Moloch's plan, or else he’ll wage a war that will wipe out the human
race.

Excerpt:

Chattanooga had
been a nice place to live for the past ten months, a fact proven by my utter
disapproval of the hotel we checked in the following night we left. The safe
house was in Montpelier, Vermont and by car it was an eighteen-hour drive.
However, the two of us were exhausted from the recent fights we’d had and
needed some sleep so we stopped in Newburgh, Connecticut. We’d camp out here
for the night and then leave first thing in the morning.

Myra worked at
an office supplies store back in Tennessee, which paid alright, but neither of
us were exactly swimming in cash. The hotel we chose was not of the highest
caliber. The only benefits it boasted were cable television and air
conditioning. I missed my thin pillows and slightly lumpy mattress back home.

We were behind
schedule, but only slightly. Myra went to buy some dinner while I opted for a
long, hot shower. It wasn’t a nice place to stay, but it had one admittedly
awesome amenity—a handheld sprayer with plenty of settings. I stayed in until
my fingertips were pruny, mulling over recent events and hoping that a clear
solution would arise. No such luck. We were still on defense. I didn’t like it,
not one bit. The weight hanging off my soul was starting to make my knees
buckle. I had to fix this. I had to save the angels. I owed them. They had shed
blood for me more than once. I wasn’t going to disappoint them, not again.
Never again.

I finished
rinsing out my hair and groped for the towel with my eyes closed to avoid
getting any residual shampoo in them. Weirdly, my fingers hit nothing but the
moist air near the rack. Frowning, I reached out farther. It wasn’t there. Had
it fallen onto the floor?

“Lose
something?”

I froze. A deep,
mocking, dry-as-sandpaper voice. No. Please, God, let it just be my imagination.

I pried my eyes
open and ducked my head around the shower curtain. There, in front of the sink,
stood a tall, pale-skinned man with shoulder-length hair as black as soot and a
smile as sinister as the devil himself. His eyes were the lightest hue of blue
that existed and the pupils were thin and diamond-like rather than round. His
features were vaguely European—small forehead, narrow nose, thin but sensual
lips, arched eyebrows—but I knew he didn’t have an accent.

He clutched my
towel in his long-fingered hand, the other tucked in the pocket of his easily
seven-hundred-dollar black suit pants. I recognized his favorite dark color
scheme—a charcoal grey button up shirt, black silk tie, and Gucci dress shoes.

About Kyoko M:

Kyoko M is an author, a fangirl, and an avid book reader. Her
debut novel, The Black Parade, has been on Amazon's Bestseller List at
#5 in the Occult Horror category. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English
Lit degree from the University of Georgia, which gave her every valid
excuse to devour book after book with a concentration in Greek mythology
and Christian mythology. When not working feverishly on a manuscript
(or two), she can be found buried under her Dashboard on Tumblr, or
chatting with fellow nerds on Twitter, or curled up with a good Harry
Dresden novel on a warm central Florida night. Like any author, she
wants nothing more than to contribute something great to the best
profession in the world, no matter how small.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

About Crepier:

The scene shifts to Hartshire in the Earth Realm from Nambroc in the
Nether Realm in Crepier, the third novella in the Nambroc Sequence, a
fantasy series.

Crepier, an accountant and black market financier, wants to retire and be financially set for the rest of his life.

To achieve this goal, he convinces Watley Greywall, local crime lord
in Hartshire, to get behind his idea of establishing Hartshire Bank.

Other elements of the Hartshire criminal underworld are of two minds about this possibility.

One segment of the Hartshire criminal underworld wants to get
involved with this opportunity to start a bank because it is a
legitimate commercial enterprise and a way to launder their ill-gotten
gains.

Another segment believes the bank will the draw attention of the
Hartshire Constabulary, which would be more problems than it is worth.

All that matters to Crepier is establishing the Hartshire Bank, and nothing or no one will stop him.

Excerpt:

Fox
Duarte licked his lips as he raised his hands while perspiration beaded his
forehead. “Listen, Tiger, no reason to do anything that I’ll regret. Didn’t
anticipate that one of the Guyles Gang would be implicated in the forgery
scheme.” The wood elf shook his head. “Really sorry about that.”

Tiger
Keegan held the dagger as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “I
would like to believe you. Sander and Crandall Guyle would like to believe you,
Fox.” The mountain elf nodded. “The problem is that you have a reputation as a
liar.” He chuckled. “A well-deserved one at that.”

Duarte
clenched his jaw. “No reason to talk like that, Tiger.”

“Sure
it is, Fox.” Keegan reached for his tankard of ale. “What do you think, Gesby?
Can you trust Fox Duarte?”

A
woman stood near the door and held a small double loaded crossbow aimed at Fox
Duarte as she held a cracked and chipped gold coin in the other. “Trust him as
much as I trust this counterfeit mark could get me a hot meal and a warm bed
for the night at any nice inn in Weyland.”

“You’re
right about that, Gesby.” Tiger took a sip of ale. “Three moneybags filled with
these cracked coins isn’t good for business. The Guyles Gang paid for you to
make these coins with understanding they would look like the genuine queen
marks. No one could tell they were counterfeit. That is what you told us, Fox.
We planned to use them in the money changer shops owned by the Guyles Gang.” He
grimaced. “How much did we pay for the three bags, Gesby?”

“Two
thousand queen marks per bag.” Gesby put the coin in her pocket. “Six thousand
for three bags, Tiger.”

“How
many marks were supposed to be in each bag, Gesby?” Tiger put his tankard on
the table.

“Fifty
thousand queen marks per bag, Tiger.” Gesby scowled.

“The
problem is that Sander didn’t give me enough time to produce the coins.” Fox
shrugged. “I did the best I could with what I had to work with, Tiger.”

“When
I approached you with this job, you assured me that you could have it done on a
shorter deadline.” Gesby reached for her tankard of ale. “Were those assurances
nothing more than puffery and bluster, Fox?”

Fox
cleared his throat. “Of course not, Gesby. You know me better than that.” The
wood elf clasped his hands. “You and I had something very special.” He
sniffled. “You were the reason I came to Weyland. When I first saw you, I knew
you were the one for me.” He turned to Tiger Keegan. “Maybe I didn’t have a
clear head when I produced the coins because I was distracted by this vision of
loveliness.” He pointed to Gesby. “I admit I could have done better work, but I
don’t think that means you have to point weapons at me, does it?”

Tiger
glared at the woman. “Is this true, Gesby? You suggested this counterfeiting
scheme to me and to bring in Duarte to engineer this. Based on what you told me
about Duarte, I went to Sander and Crandall Guyle with this forgery scheme.” He
clenched his jaw. “I vouched for Duarte and this scheme because you are in love
with him?”

He, however, does not write stories in the same vein as LORD OF THE RINGS by Tolkien or fantasy writers that have followed him.

Besides
reading fantasy, GODFATHER by Mario Puzo, NOBLE HOUSE by James Clavell,
and the trilogy by John Gardner about Professor James Moriarty as the
gaslight godfather are among some of his favorite books.

He has
taken the above as inspiration to create fantasy and sword & sorcery
stories that meld the criminal with the fantastic.

R.D. Henderson is a pen name for the author. He and his family live near Seattle, Washington.

R.D. is currently working on the next installment in the Nambroc Sequence.

Monday, April 20, 2015

About Time Quirks:

***
Quirky Time Portals ***

Time Quirks is a science fiction novella, a tale
of alien colonizers desperately searching for a new home. Long-range sensors
and remote probes have located a distant planet that meets the requirements of
their species. A ship is sent to investigate this new world, but upon taking up
orbit around the planet, the ship's crew encounters a major problem. The world
is already occupied.

Excerpt:

Jazloo faced the captain in his private study adjacent to the ship's
briefing room, trying not to lose her temper. "I can't believe you're
seriously planning on bringing back live bipeds for dissection." She'd
waylaid Tusec in the corridor outside his quarters as his sleeping cycle ended,
demanding to speak with him about the upcoming shuttle mission to the planet
below.

Excerpt:

An odd prickling sensation engulfed Eric. "What the—" He stopped
in mid-sentence, scared at what felt like crawling bugs on his flesh. The
frightening sensation raced inward until it imploded at its point of convergence.
His feeling of being compressed into nothingness vanished, smothering his
scream.

Excerpt:

"How do you know the
Master's niece?"

"Go get her," he said, his
voice commanding more authority than he felt. "She’ll know who I am."

While the armed slave stayed with him,
the other went to wake Cloelia. He'd bought himself a little time, but what
would happen when they returned? Would this Cloelia be the same Cloelia as
before?

* * *

Gabriella's eyes and mouth were wide
open. A moment ago, she'd halfway believed Eric was delusional, but she'd just
watched him vanish. She stared at the shimmering light, and then haltingly
approached it until she was directly in front of it.

She stared up at the column's capital. In
the sunlight, the radiation emitted by it was clearly visible as it filled the
open doorway with a transparent white light. On the other side of the
shimmering curtain, the rest of the ruins were clearly visible. Eric wasn't
anywhere to be seen. She tried to swallow as excitement and fear played havoc
with her emotions. She then reached out with her right hand, tempted to touch
the shimmering light, to follow Eric to . . . to wherever he'd gone. After all,
she was an archaeologist, and she could think of no better way to explore the
past.

As common sense took hold, she jerked her
hand away. You don't just stroll into the
past, she scolded herself. You have
to be prepared. Besides, she needed to guard the entrance. She hurried back
to the column and grabbed Eric's daypack before moving to the edge of the
slope. With a view of his Land Rover at the bottom of the hill and a view of
the ruins in the other direction, she struggled to take it all in.

Was Eric now in the past? Was time travel
really possible? She trembled as she replayed the image in her mind that she'd
just witnessed. What were the implications? And how were the aliens involved?
She mumbled to herself as one question after another rose up. How would this
impact her? The three of them? The world?

The edges of her mouth turned down as she
remembered her husband's warning last night. He'd said that the Italian
government was under intense pressure by their allies, especially the
Americans, to launch a full-scale search of Tuscany for the alien receiver. She
dropped to the ground and pulled her phone out of Eric's daypack.

"Hi, it's me," she said as her
husband answered. "It's all real, Dean. I saw Eric vanish right in front
of me. No, I'm serious. There was a white shimmering light just like he said.
Yes, I'm sure. He vanished. No, he's not hiding from me." She rolled her
eyes, unsure of how to convince him as she remembered her own denial. "I
don't know if he's in the past. All I know is he vanished." As she waited
for him to stop talking, she shook her head. "Yes, it looks like the
receiver's hidden inside the capital. Uh-huh. Okay. Sundown, yes, it's still
on."

About A. Peter Perdian:

A. Peter Perdian is
an American writer with ten e-books currently available. His aim is to
entertain with thought provoking tales. He lives in the Pacific Northwest and
his work is available in Amazon's Kindle Store.

When not writing, he enjoys the outdoor activities the Pacific Northwest
provides, such as biking, hiking and climbing. He also enjoys traveling and
exploring new places. As for reading material, his preferences are all over the
spectrum.

The title of his latest book is "Time Quirks," a science fiction
novella published on April 13, 2015.

His next tale will be published sometime between the end of 2015 and the first
quarter of 2016.

About the Speculative Fiction Showcase

We are a blog about all things indie science fiction, fantasy and horror. Read interviews with and guest posts by spec fic writers and keep current on news from the SFF world and the latest spec-fic releases.